Depth Perception

Walt Disney Animation Studios creates a virtual space in the 2D-to-3D conversion process

By Mel Lamberts

With George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace 3D currently playing at a number of AMC multiplexes and Titanic 3D poised to repeat the success enjoyed by its director James Cameron with Avatar 3D, the audience for stereoscopic productions is expanding dramatically. With an eye on consumer dollars, a growing number of movie studios... Read more

Posting 3D

With the box office success of 3D and the rollout of 3D TV to follow, what are your options in post?

By George Avgerakis

At a recent Golden Globe® party, Star Wars creator George Lucas referred to the stereoscopic 3D world of Avatar in an interview with television show Access Hollywood. “It’s so successful, and worked very well in 3D,” said Lucas. “I haven’t been a big fan of 3D, but that movie definitely improves it. We’ve been... Read more

In Full Effect

VFX wizards create eye-popping 3-D effects for Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D and Missy Elliott’s Ching-A-Ling video

By Debra Kaufman

As stereoscopic 3-D films grow in popularity, visual-effects supervisors and digital artists face the challenges of creating digital imagery in three dimensions. Unlike the xyz space of the 3-D CGI image, stereoscopic film is made up of two images—representing the right and left eyes—that “converge” to form a single image with depth... Read more

This Ain’t Your Daddy’s 3D

Randall Dark jumps into the 3D deep end with Panasonic’s new AG-3DA1

By Dan Brockett

We all saw it. Lurking under glass in a darkened corner of Panasonic’s NAB 2009 booth was a bug-eyed prototype of what would soon evolve into the first professional one-piece 3D digital production camera. HD technologist Randall Dark saw the Panasonic’s 3D camera prototype, too. Although Panasonic pledged “end-to-end 3D technology”... Read more

A Do-It-Yourself 3D Roadmap

With 3D currently in the mainstream, is it now possible to create your own 3D independent movie?

By Dan Brockett

Ghosts of the Abyss. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour. The Polar Express. Up. U2 3D. Coraline. Success stories, one and all, but aren’t these films mostly mass-market, high-budgeted studio projects? Why should 3D films like these matter to someone creating a low-budget feature today? Is it even possible to produce a... Read more

Exploring The Sea

Brothers Jean-Jacques and François Mantello shoot underwater 3D IMAX for OceanWorld 3D

By Jeffrey Nielsen

Looking for a new challenge on your next HD project? How about shooting on the open seas, above and below the surface? Or how about shooting in IMAX? Or maybe venture into digital 3D? How about doing all three at the same time? Filmmaking and scuba-diving brothers Jean-Jacques and François Mantello have done just that—more than once. Besides the... Read more

Creating Avatar

Director James Cameron’s long-awaited digital 3D epic raises the technological bar in integrating live action and computer-generated characters

By Debra Kaufman

Director James Cameron’s 3D stereoscopic, CG-laden Avatar has some high expectations. Fans and practitioners of 3D stereoscopic film hope this will be the film that, creatively and financially, will put to rest any remaining doubts over the power of the 3D film as a genre that has come into its own. The film also promises to create a new benchmark... Read more